#13 -- Racquetball is a Pan American Sport!
by USA Racquetball
This WE ARE USA RACQUETBALL infographic describes the role USAR plays in the sport of Racquetball.
Dear USA Racquetball Members (and Racquetball Players Across the United States),
The USA Racquetball infographic above has appeared in Serving Up the News monthly since September 2020. The contributors and editors of this newsletter have observed that while many of our members have appreciated the infographic’s high-level description of the value USA Racquetball brings, perhaps they would appreciate more detail on each point, to understand more about what USA Racquetball provides to the infrastructure of our sport.
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Now it’s time for the very last bullet of the 13, a timely topic since the U.S. Team has just returned home from competing in the Pan American Racquetball Championships in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. PARC is definitely not the same as the Pan American Games (PAG), but there is a connection all the same. Read on to learn more about the last point on the We Are USA Racquetball infographic and explain the tie between PARC and the PAG.
#5 We are a Pan American Sport
The Pan American Games are an international multi-sport event, an Olympic-style competition for athletes from all nations of the Americas. They are conducted every four years, always one year before the Olympic Games. The first edition of the Pan American Games was held in 1951, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Pan American Games is racquetball’s premier experience, the most-valued pinnacle to attain for elite Racquetball athletes representing every country in North, Central, and South America.
Racquetball has been part of all but one Pan American Games since the 1995 Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina. It was most recently competed at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.
The XIX Pan American Games is scheduled to be held from October 20 to November 5, 2023, in Santiago, Chile. Although presented by the Pan American Sports Organization, host countries also have a say in which sports are included in their PAG program, and happily, Racquetball is on the program for Santiago 2023.
Separate from the Pan American Games is the Pan American Racquetball Championships, an event held every year by the Pan American Racquetball Confederation, which under the auspices of the International Racquetball Federation (IRF) is the governing body for all continental sanctioned racquetball events in the Western hemisphere.
Even though these two events (Pan American Games and Pan American Racquetball Championships) are similarly named, the PAG is multi-sport while the PARC is racquetball only. There is, however, a connection. The results attained by countries at the Pan American Racquetball Championships (generally competed the week prior to Easter each year in various locations) are used to determine which countries––and how many athletes from each qualifying country––are invited to travel and compete at the Pan American Games. Further, the PARC results are used to seed the individual and team competitions at the PAG.
U.S. Racquetball Team results in PARC Bolivia 2022, as well as those from the 2023 PARC event, will dictate how the United States will be represented in Santiago next year.
GO TEAM USA!!
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INFOGRAPHIC DETAILS: We covered #1 US OPEN and #6 U.S. Adult and Junior National Teams in the May 2021 of this newsletter. In June 2021, we continued with #2 National Championships/Sanctioned Events, #4 Junior, High School, and Collegiate, #12 Rules and Equipment Specifications; August 2021 was #3 World Outdoor Racquetball and #13 Website, Social Media, and Publications; in September we covered #7 Hall of Fame and Annual Awards, and in October we discussed #8 Our Partners Across the Sport. November addressed #11 Technology - Communication, Membership, Rankings, and R2 Sports. In January this year, we discussed #9 State Organization and Event Directors, and in March, it was #10 Strategies to Save Courts. This April 2022 feature -- #5 Pan American Sport -- wraps it all up. Watch for a website feature that lists everything we’ve covered, all in one place!
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USAR Website -- The USA Racquetball website at www.usaracquetball.com is the platform from which much happens within our sport. USAR Staff Director Renée Isherwood manages it and makes periodic modifications. A “carousel” at the top of the home page features current newsworthy articles and features.
Additionally, numerous articles are housed there and linked over from the mid-month publication Serving Up the News.
A look inside the website brings much more than most realize. The dropdown menu on the home page starts with this:
Everywhere you see a right-pointing arrow, there is additional information waiting to be discovered. To give one example, a closer look at the Rules section includes five more places to learn about various aspects of the Rules of Racquetball:
There’s so much to discover about Racquetball on the USAR website. Have a seat one quiet weekend afternoon with your coffee and a brownie...and explore away!